The Climbing Wall
Association (CWA) today announced a Work-at-Height Certification Program for
gym owners and employees. The new industry training is designed to reduce the
risk of at-height accidents and injuries and will be offered to CWA members at
its second-annual Certification Summit at the Petzl Technical Institute in Salt
Lake City, Utah, October 26-30.

The certification
course, developed jointly by CWA and Petzl, draws on Petzl’s technical experience in the professional work-at-height
industries and applies similar solutions to operating and maintaining modern
climbing facilities. The Certification Summit will offer attendees
certification in first aid, PPE inspection, and as Climbing Wall Instructors.

“The
new certification contains tools and techniques borrowed from rope-access,
tower climbing and technical rescue standards,” said Jesse Williams, Petzl Technical
Institute manager. “Petzl designed the training to provide gym employees with increased security, efficiency, and
comfort, as well as satisfy an employer’s need to provide a managed work-at-height
program.”

In 2014, Petzl opened
the 15,000-square-foot technical training center to promote the proper
application of technical skills, allowing everyone from climbing wall
instructors to arborists to exchange best practices and work with the gear
manufacturer on approved use methods.

Petzl’s North
American headquarters is based in Salt Lake City, UT. The family-owned company
traces its roots to underground exploration. In 1956, founder Fernand Petzl set
a world depth record of -3,681 feet (1,122 meters) in the Gouffre Berger, an
extensive cave system near his home in France.

The Petzl Technical Institute is a continuation of Petzl’s original mission: to
enable and educate people on how to safely access some of the most inaccessible
places above and below ground. The facility features a 55-foot tall climbing
wall with multi-pitch capability, more than 5,000 square feet of exposed
structure climbing for tower rescue, and three classrooms capable of
accommodating up to 200 people, among other features.

The Petzl Technical Institute is a
place to train, learn, and advance safety standards for all vertical
communities: rope-access technicians, fire/rescue professionals, arborists,
military special operators, cavers, and more. The state-of-the-art verticality
facility features customizable and job-specific training facilities to
re-create a wide variety of real-world scenarios.

Petzl operates a
similar training facility at its worldwide headquarters in France.